The third round of the XCO World Cup series was run at Nova Mesto in the Czech Republic on the weekend, with some great results posted by New Zealand riders. In the U23 women's race, Spoke contributor Samara Sheppard rode to a brilliant 4th place (the race was won by her Wheeler-IXS teammate and off-season New Zealand-visitor Jolanda Neff). Rotorua's Dirk Peters also had a great ride to bag 14th in U23 men, while Rosara Joseph and Karen Hanlen finished 22nd and 26th respectively in the Elite women's race.